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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Honolulu Prince changes hands

Advertiser Staff

A New York finance and investment firm has bought the Aston Honolulu Prince Hotel from its Japan-based owner, but said it plans no immediate changes for the Waikiki hotel.

An affiliate of Ramsfield Hospitality Finance paid $7.75 million to acquire the 134-room hotel, on leasehold land at 415 Nahua St., from Prince Co. Ltd.

The Honolulu Prince is a budget property between Kuhio Avenue and Ala Wai, and isn't affiliated with the Prince Resorts luxury hotel chain that includes the Hawai'i Prince Hotel Waikiki overlooking the Ala Wai Boat Harbor.

Richard Mandel, Ramsfield president, said the company hasn't determined a long-range plan for the Honolulu Prince, which will continue to be operated as a hotel.

Hotel management firm ResortQuest Hawaii, which operates the Honolulu Prince under its Aston brand, said it will cease managing the hotel in March.

The Honolulu Prince was built in 1960 on land owned by the Queen Emma Foundation. The hotel has had a few different owners over the past two decades, including Tokyo-based firm Koei USA Enterprises, which paid $9.5 million for the leasehold property in 1987.

Prince Co. bought the hotel in 1997 for $8.65 million, according to local real-estate firm NAI ChaneyBrooks, which represented Prince Co. in the sale to Ramsfield.

Manhattan-based Ramsfield primarily makes or acquires loans to hotel owners and developers, but formed a hotel acquisition division that bought the 247-room Aqua Waikiki Wave hotel for $40 million in 2006 as its first purchase.

The firm's lending deals in Hawai'i have involved the former Courtyard by Marriott hotel on Kaua'i, and Waikiki's Coral Reef Hotel, which later became the Aqua Waikiki after an $8 million renovation.

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